The Ultrasound Visualization Pipeline - Scientific Visualization: Uncertainty, Multifield, Biomedical, and Scalable Visualization - page 266

Chapter 24
The Ultrasound Visualization Pipeline
Åsmund Birkeland, Veronika Šoltészová, Dieter Hönigmann, Odd Helge Gilja,
Svein Brekke, Timo Ropinski and Ivan Viola
Abstract Radiology is one of the main tools in modern medicine. A numerous set of
deceases, ailments and treatments utilize accurate images of the patient. Ultrasound
is one of the most frequently used imaging modality in medicine. The high spatial
resolution, its interactive nature and non-invasivenessmakes it the first choice inmany
examinations. Image interpretation is one of ultrasound's main challenges. Much
training is required to obtain a confident skill level in ultrasound-based diagnostics.
State-of-the-art graphics techniques is needed to providemeaningful visualizations of
ultrasound in real-time. In this paper we present the process-pipeline for ultrasound
visualization, including an overview of the tasks performed in the specific steps.
To provide an insight into the trends of ultrasound visualization research, we have
selected a set of significant publications and divided them into a technique-based
taxonomy covering the topics pre-processing, segmentation, registration, rendering
and augmented reality. For the different technique types we discuss the difference
between ultrasound-based techniques and techniques for other modalities.
Å. Birkeland ( B ) · V. Šoltészová · S. Brekke · I. Viola
University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
e-mail: [e-mail]
D. Hönigmann
N22 Research and Technology Transfer, Wiener Neustadt, Austria
O. H. Gilja
Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
S. Brekke
Archer—The Well Company, Bergen, Norway
T. Ropinski
Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
V.Šoltészová
Christian Michelsen Research, Bergen, Norway
I. Viola
Vienna University of Technology,Vienna, Austria